Six goats which were to be sacrificed for Bakrid electrocuted

Six goats, worth ₹1.20 lakh ($1,617), were electrocuted in Navi Mumbai on Saturday night after coming into contact with live electric poles. The animals were to be sacrificed for Eid al-Adha. The owner of the goats said he saw them falling unconscious one by one after coming into contact with the poles, which had recently undergone maintenance work by officials from the Panvel Municipal Corporation. An electrical inspector is investigating the incident.

Navi Mumbai: Six goats were electrocuted on Saturday night after coming in contact with live electric poles at sector 10 in Kharghar. The poles recently underwent maintenance work by the Panvel Municipal Corporation officials.

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The goats, worth ₹1.20 lakh in the livestock market, were meant to be sacrificed for Eid al-Adha (Bakrid), which will be observed on June 29.

Owner of the goats, Naem Lala Qureshi, who runs a mutton shop in Kharghar, had shut his business for the past eight days to look after the livestock, each weighing around 50kgs.

On Saturday night, he took the goats out for grazing when one by one, he saw them falling unconscious after coming in contact with the pole, resulting in deaths.

Advocate Balesh Bhojane, a Kharghar resident, and a member of the Kharghar Forum has alleged that Panvel Municipal Corporation officials had conducted maintenance work on the electric poles a few weeks ago and the shoddy work done by them led to the incident.

“I had sent a written complaint to Kharghar police regarding the incident and asked them to register a case against the responsible person,” Bhojane said, adding, “I am following up with them.”

Qureshi who along with his two sons, 13 and 17, took 15 goats out for grazing. “Suddenly one of my goats got electrocuted while walking on the footpath near the electric pole. One of my sons saw and immediately warned another son and asked him not to touch them and step behind. I saw one by one two more got electrocuted on the same pole and three others got electrocuted at the adjacent pole. I lost a total of six goats worth a total of ₹1.20lakh. Each goat was about 50 kg,” Qureshi said.

After Bhojane got to know about the incident, he called up the electric department and got the electricity supply cut to the poles.

“Just because the incident involves livestock, the authorities are not taking it seriously but what if any human being had touched the poles?” asked Bhojane.

The electrical head of Panvel Municipal Corporation, Pritam Patil, said, “In September 2022, the Kharghar node got transferred to us from Cidco and since then we have been conducting the maintenance work. We are changing all the street lights to LED lights. We have reported the incident to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd and they would be checking the matter. We have also reported it to the district electrical inspector who is in Pen and he will be visiting the spot and investigating what exactly went wrong.”

Meanwhile, senior police inspector Rajiv Shejwal from Kharghar police station alleged that the goats were tied to the electricity pole and hence no action has been taken against anyone. Shejwal said that they are investigating the matter.

Qureshi rubbished the allegations, “It is not true that the goats were tied to the pole. How can anyone even go near an electric pole that is emitting such high electric shock? It is otherwise a very busy area with people walking over the footpath but since it was heavily raining, there was no public outside. The six goats who walked on the footpath died while the ones who walked on the road were saved.”